Pacific Southwest Research Station. Psw > topics > ecosystem_processes > tropical > restoration Ecosystem Processes: Tropical Ecosystems Restoration of Ecosystem Processes: "Ecosystem restoration is an activity at which everyone wins: when successful, we are rewarded by having returned a fragment of the earth's surface to its former state; when we fail, we learn an immense amount about how ecosystems work, provided we are able to determine why the failure occurred.
" John J. Background Hawai'i, the most remote archipelago on Earth, is a textbook example not only of the evolutionary results of isolation, but also the environmental consequences of colonization. After decades of land abuse and deforestation, there is increasing interest in restoring native forest ecosystems to conserve native biodiversity, provide wildlife habitat, and restore important ecosystem processes such as watershed protection.
Direction Organization for Tropical Studies, La Selva Biological Station (Costa Rica), HUERTOS Native forest ecosystem restoration. Ecological Solutions for the Twenty-First Century - Ocean Arks International. New Alchemy Institute and Green Center Archives - Falmouth, MA. Biomimicry, Smart Breeding and Prairie-Like Farms. The American experiment has been rife with pretty disastrous ecological choices -- clearcutting the nation's ancient forests, basing our transportation system on the internal combustion engine, subsidizing the Post-War wave of suburban sprawl -- but right up near the top of the list has been factory farming of the High Plains. (much more...) In the last fifty years, farming has been transformed from the kind of family enterprise we all remember from our children's books to a full-blown industrial resource extraction industry.
The resource? Topsoil. The crops produced are unquestionably more profitable than were those grown in traditional ways. The last point is critical. Soil is also alive, and the steady chemical beatings its taken most everywhere in the U.S. over the last fifty years have killed off many of the microorganisms which keep it alive, and dead soil is no longer soil, it's just wet dust. Industrial agriculture has a crisis on its hands. We don't have that kind of time. Creating a future that works. Biomimicry Institute - Home.
The Biomimicry 3.8 Institute is a not-for-profit organization that promotes the study and imitation of nature’s remarkably efficient designs, bringing together scientists, engineers, architects and innovators of all ages who can use those models to create sustainable technologies. The Institute was founded in 2006 by science writer and consultant Janine Benyus in response to overwhelming interest in the subject following the publication of her book, Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature. See Janine’s TED Talk video for her groundbreaking introduction to biomimicry.
Today, the Biomimicry 3.8 Institute focuses on three areas: Developing our online database of nature’s solutions, AskNature.org.Hosting our annual, international Biomimicry Student Design Challenge.Growing our Global Network of regional biomimicry practitioners. See examples of biomimicry in action! Meet executive director Beth Rattner, our staff, and the Institute board.